Press for heel-attached shoe bottoms



Dec. 6, 1960 H. E. MARAsczo 2,962,736

PRESS FOR HEEL-ATTACHED SHOE BOTTOMS Filed Feb. 16, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 2 JNVENTOR.

2o' I I' Dec. 6, 1960 Filed Feb. 16, 1959 H. E. MARASCO PRESS FOR HEEL-ATTACHED SHOE BOTTOMS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 JN VEN TOR.

ZAYmI We@ United States Patent PRESS FOR HEEL-ATTACHED SHOE BOTTOMS Harold E. Marasco, 145 Puritan Road, Swampscott, Mass.

Filed Feb. 16, 1959, Ser. No. 793,621

4 Claims. (Cl. 12-38) The present invention relates to presses for use in laying and adhesively attaching soles to shoe bottoms. Whereas such presses have heretofore been required to lhandle only shoe bottoms having llat heel-seats, the shoemaking industry has so developed that the manufacturer now finds it desirable and economical to attach the heel to the shoe bottom before laying the sole. The sole press must therefore be so constructed and arranged as to operate upon a shoe bottom -having a heel already attached.

The present invention comprises a new and improved sole press capable of handling shoes with heel-.attached bottoms and having also provision for laying and adliesively attaching the usual leaf to the breast face of the already attached heel.

An important feature of the invention resides in a pad box having a forepart section containing a flexible pad that includes a relatively ilat portion for engaging the forepart of the shoe bottom and also an upright portion disposed at substantially right angles thereto for engaging the breast surface of the attached heel and pressing a heel-breast leaf into place at the same time that `the forepart portion of the pad is subjecting the sole as a whole to the desired sole-laying pressure.

It will be apparent that in practice the heel-breast engaging portion of the pad will exert a powerful rearward pressure against the heel. Another feature of the present invention, therefore, resides in means for engaging the rear surface of the heel to counterbalance this pressure and resist the rearward thrust against the heelbreast face of the attached heel. Such counterbalancing means may take the form of a complementary pad shaped to engage the rear face of the heel, or of an abutment that is advanced against the heel at the time of inflation of the forepart pad.

As a further feature, my invention provides forepart and rear pad box sections that are complete as separate units, each with its pad properly molded and shaped Ifor its different function. These two pad box sections are bolted together in such relation that the pad of the forepart section engages the leaf which is to be united to the heel breast surface and the pad of the rear section engages the rear curved surface of the heel and balances the thrust of the forepart pad.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood and appreciated from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, selected for purposes of illustration and shown in t-he accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. l is a plan view of the two-part pad box, showing the heel in cross section and indicating in dot and dash lines the contour of the shoe in process of sole laying.

Fig. 2 is a corresponding view in longitudinal section.

Fig. 3 is a view in longitudinal section of a modied construction, land Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view of the rear abutment member shown in Fig. 3.

The two-section pad box of my invention is illustrated L '2,962,735 Patented Dec. 6, 1960 in Figs. 1 and 2 without any showing of the elements of the press which support and inate the pad box and the overhead means for holding the heel-attached shoe in operative position. Such press elements form no part of the invention and may be of commercial construction or such as those shown in my prior U.S. Patent No. 2,813,- 282, granted November 19, 1957.

The forepart section of the pad box has a bottom 11 merging into an upright peripheral wall designed to enclose, with considerable clearance, the shank and forepart of the shoe under sole-laying treatment. The bottom of the pad box terminates at its rear end in a downwardly projecting transverse flange 11'.

A flexible two ply pad 13 is shaped for its intended functions by having a substantially ilat forepart portion which is molded at its rear end to present an upwardly and rearwardly inclined shank-engaging portion terminating in a sharp fold vertex 14 and thence merging into a substantially vertical heel-breast engaging portion 15. The margins of the forepart portion are clamped to the top edge of the peripheral wall i1 by a beveled ring 17 fastened by bolts 18, while the lower margin of the vertical portion 15 is deflected forwardly and clamped to the transverse ilange 11 by bolts 16. The forepart section of the pad box has a iluid pressure inlet 19 beneath the pad 13.

The rear section 20 of the pad box has an arcuate upstanding wall and a down-turned transverse ilange 20' corresponding to the flange 11 of the forepart section. A two-ply flexible pad 22 is molded into shape for its intended function and presents a vertical portion, for engagement with the rear curved face of the heel 2S, and a flat upper portion which is clamped to the top of the upstanding wall by a segment ring 23 fastened by bolts 24. The lower margin of the vertical portion of the pad 22 is deflected rearwardly and clamped to the flange 20' thus forms a closed pressure chamber having a fluid pressure inlet passage 26 in the rear wall of the pad box and being inilatable as a unit independently of the chamber in the forepart section.

The forepart section of the box has transversely outstanding lugs 12 at opposite sides and the rear section has corresponding lugs 21. Both pairs of these lugs are fastened together by lbolts 25, and the two sections are thus united to withstand the longitudinal pressure developed in operation. The inlets 19 and 26 are connected with the piping and valves of a compressed air system in such manner that pressure may be admitted and released from the two pad box sections simultaneously or in any desired timed relation.

In practice a molded sole 29 having a split breast leaf 27 is first cemented or activated and then carefully applied or spotted by hand upon the shoe bottom, the leaf 27 being laid against the heel breast. At this time a last 30 remains in the shoe and a heel 28 has been attached to the heel seat of the shoe bottom. The shoe in this condition is placed upon the pad 13 with the `heel 28 inserted between the breast-engaging portion 15 of the forepart pad and the vertical wall yof the pad 22. The portions 15 and 22 of the pads are separated below the tread end of the heel as shown in Fig. 2. The shoe is supported in this position by toe and hieel posts (not shown), and compressed air is admitted to bot-h pad box sections. 'I'he pad 13 is thus forced upwardly against the sole, conforming it fully to the `contour of the last bottom and pressing the leaf 27 against the heel breast with sufficient pressure to cause permanent adhesive bonding to take place. Pressure is maintained for a predetermined interval, and at the conclusion thereof pressure is released and the shoe removed from the press.

As already explained the rearward thrust of the verti- Acal pad portion 15 is resisted and balanced by the forward thrust of the vertical portion of the pad 22, while the bolts 25 hold the two pad box sections against displacement.

In the -modiiied construction of Figs. 3 and 4 the pad 13-715 may be considered as being mounted as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 in the foreport section of the pad box, while the shoe is supported in sole-laying position by a toe post 40 and a heel post 41 carried by an arm 10` of the press. The heel post is operated by a compressed air cylinder 42, as in the press of my previous patent above identified.

However, instead of a rear pad box section this m-odiiication includes in its structure a forked abutment number 43 having a curved cushion 44 for engaging the rear curved face of the heel. This abutment member has a piston Working in a fluid pressure cylinder 45 mounted directly behind the heel of the shoe and compressed air is admitted to the cylinder 45 at the proper time to resist and balance the rearward thrust of the breast engaging portion 15 of the pad of the forepart section.

It will be appreciated that lby employing either of the embodiments of my invention above described the shoemaking process is -accelerated because the steps of laying the sole and of adhesively attaching the heel-breast leaf and effected simultaneously instead of successively and by different operations as heretofore.

Having thus disclosed my invention and described in detail two illustrative embodiments thereof, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A two-section pad box for sole presses, comprising a forepart section having an upstanding peripheral wall and a down-turned transverse flange, a forepart pad secured to said peripheral Wall in position to engage the shoe bottom and having an upright heel-breast engaging portion secured to said transverse flange, together with a rearpart section bolted to the forepart section and having an arcuate peripheral wall and a down-turned transverse iiange, and a rear-part pad secured to the said arcuate Wall, and having an upright portion for engaging the rear surface of a heel attached to the shoe bottom.

2. A two-part pad box for sole presses, comprising complementary box sections as complete units, being bolted together and each having a fluid pressure inlet and a separate exible pad, the pad `of one section having a at sole engaging portion and a heel-leaf portion disposed at substantially right angles thereto, and the pad of the other section having an upright portion engaging the rear curved surface of a heel attached to lthe shoe bottom.

3. A press for heelaattached shoe bottoms, having complementary forepart and rear pad box sections as complete units containing separate flexible pads with vertical portions for engagingV opposite faces of an interposed heel, and means for positively holding the two sections against longitudinal displacement.

4. A two-part pad structure for sole presses, comprising a forepart pad box Ihaving external lugs and a pad with a iiat sole-engaging portion and an angular heel-leaf engaging portion, in combination with a rear pad box having external lugs and a heel end pad with an upright portion for engaging the rear curved surface of a heel attached to a shoe bottom, iluid pressure connections for intiating both pads, and bolts connecting together the external lugs of both boxes for holding them stationary and in place against longitudinal pressure developed by ination of the pads.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,058,446 Haselier Oct. 27, 1936 2,078,307 Bazzoni Apr. 27, 1937 2,168,606 Movsesian Aug. 8, 1939 2,916,750 Ralphs et al Dec. 15, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 66,523 Austria Apr. 15, 1914 441,090 Germany Aug. 30, 1925 547,479 Italy Aug. 30, 1956 639,337 France June 19, 1928 1,163,779 France Apr. 28, 1958 1,168,417 France Sept. 1, 1958 

